Towards Ultra-High Resolution Models of Climate and Weather
Abstract
We present a speculative extrapolation of the performance aspects of an atmospheric general circulation model to ultra-high resolution and describe alternative technological paths to realize integration of such a model in the relatively near future. Due to a superlinear scaling of the computational burden dictated by stability criterion, the solution of the equations of motion dominate the calculation at ultra-high resolutions. From this extrapolation, it is estimated that a credible kilometer scale atmospheric model would require at least a sustained ten petaflop computer to provide scientifically useful climate simulations. Our design study portends an alternate strategy for practical power-efficient implementations of petaflop scale systems. Embedded processor technology could be exploited to tailor a custom machine designed to ultra-high climate model specifications at relatively affordable cost and power considerations. The major conceptual changes required by a kilometer scale climate model are certain to be difficult to implement. Although the hardware, software, and algorithms are all equally critical in conducting ultra-high climate resolution studies, it is likely that the necessary petaflop computing technology will be available in advance of a credible kilometer scale climate model.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Director. Office of Science. Advanced ScientificComputing Research
- OSTI Identifier:
- 929098
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-60799
R&D Project: K11121; BnR: KJ0101030; TRN: US200812%%608
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal Name:
- International Journal of High Performance ComputingApplications
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 22; Related Information: Journal Publication Date: 05/2008
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 42; ALGORITHMS; CLIMATE MODELS; CLIMATES; COMPUTERS; DESIGN; EQUATIONS OF MOTION; EXTRAPOLATION; GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS; PERFORMANCE; RESOLUTION; SPECIFICATIONS; STABILITY; WEATHER
Citation Formats
Wehner, Michael, Oliker, Leonid, and Shalf, John. Towards Ultra-High Resolution Models of Climate and Weather. United States: N. p., 2007.
Web.
Wehner, Michael, Oliker, Leonid, & Shalf, John. Towards Ultra-High Resolution Models of Climate and Weather. United States.
Wehner, Michael, Oliker, Leonid, and Shalf, John. 2007.
"Towards Ultra-High Resolution Models of Climate and Weather". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/929098.
@article{osti_929098,
title = {Towards Ultra-High Resolution Models of Climate and Weather},
author = {Wehner, Michael and Oliker, Leonid and Shalf, John},
abstractNote = {We present a speculative extrapolation of the performance aspects of an atmospheric general circulation model to ultra-high resolution and describe alternative technological paths to realize integration of such a model in the relatively near future. Due to a superlinear scaling of the computational burden dictated by stability criterion, the solution of the equations of motion dominate the calculation at ultra-high resolutions. From this extrapolation, it is estimated that a credible kilometer scale atmospheric model would require at least a sustained ten petaflop computer to provide scientifically useful climate simulations. Our design study portends an alternate strategy for practical power-efficient implementations of petaflop scale systems. Embedded processor technology could be exploited to tailor a custom machine designed to ultra-high climate model specifications at relatively affordable cost and power considerations. The major conceptual changes required by a kilometer scale climate model are certain to be difficult to implement. Although the hardware, software, and algorithms are all equally critical in conducting ultra-high climate resolution studies, it is likely that the necessary petaflop computing technology will be available in advance of a credible kilometer scale climate model.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/929098},
journal = {International Journal of High Performance ComputingApplications},
number = ,
volume = 22,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2007},
month = {Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2007}
}